Disney almost greenlit a Donald Duck-focused Epic Mickey spin-off named Epic Donald.
A new video from gaming historian Liam Robertson dives into the history of Epic Mickey, detailing the troubled development of the first and second game, and showcasing several planned spin-offs, including a Donald Duck-centric title called Epic Donald.
Related: Promo Art For Ms. Marvel's Disney+ Show Indicate Big Changes To Her Powers
Epic Donald would have been a playable title on the Nintendo Wii that had Donald embarking on several different adventures across Duckberg. The focus would have been on the Ducktales family, with Scrooge and Donald's nephews playing a key role. Mickey and Goofy were also planned to appear in the game in supporting roles.
Many pieces of concept art drawn to look like the Carl Banks comics are showcased in the video, and showcase a game with many different scenarios and adventures. An open-world element was planned, with Donald able to create gadgets and vehicles such as a blimp and a plane.
Although the game was never greenlit, Junction Point and Blitz Games were actively designing it and expecting it to eventually come into production. Beyond concept art, one visual demo was made to show off the expected style of the game. Disney eventually decided to move away from in-house game creation, which meant that Epic Donald never had a chance to be worked on or officially announced.
Beyond the Epic Donald spin-off, Liam Robertson also detailed several other potential games in the Epic series, including a kart racer called Epic Disney Racers, and an Olympics-style sports game that had characters like Maleficent and Hercules, alongside Donald and Mickey. None of these projects moved far beyond the concept art stage, but it's interesting to see so many different planned projects.
The video also goes into some detail on a proposed third Epic Mickey game, which would have seen Oswald leaving the Wasteland to go to the cartoon world that Mickey Mouse resides in. The animatronic versions of characters like Donald and Goofy would meet their real-world counterparts, as would the villains of the Wasteland.
Next: The Owl House Is Right To Exist In A World Without Homophobia